Contracts manager Alan discovered last year that he
has a half-brother in Australia, is a black belt in
Shorinji Kempo, and has also written a musical that
was showcased at the Lowry Theatre, Salford.

8 December 2011

News

Big questions for young minds - LSE launches new economics lecture
for young people online

A new online lecture which tackles big
questions about the economy for a younger audience has been launched by LSE.

In 'The LSE Big Questions lecture: East beats West? Is the East taking
over the world?', Professor Danny Quah (pictured) addresses the issue of the rising
economic power of China and other Asian countries and asks whether we should
be fearful of this.

Using audience-participation games, demonstrations, films and interviews,
Danny explains what the economy is, why it matters, how global trade is
changing the world and how we will need to adapt to this.

In June, 150 secondary school children from nine London schools took
part in the pilot lecture, which was designed to introduce the social
sciences to young people aged 11 to 14 (Key Stage 3) in an interactive, informative
and fun way.
More

LSE academic awarded honorary doctorate

Professor Dame Helen Wallace (pictured), emeritus professor in LSE's
European Institute, was awarded an honorary doctorate by Sciences Po,
Paris, at a special ceremony on Wednesday 7 December.

Professor Christian Lequesne, director of Sciences Po's Centre d'Études
et de Recherches Internationales and former
LSE-Sciences Po Alliance Professor, who delivered the award, said that
Professor Wallace represented 'a generation of political scientists
with big ambitions to understand the European Union.'

He added that 'she has always considered that the subject of her study
was a political work in progress, and that it was an honourable engagement
to bring her knowledge to bear on its practices. Her work is all the more
remarkable because in Great Britain, helping the European Community cause
can sometimes seem like a combat.'

LSE ‘Reconnect’ with new research programme

The LSE Scholars at
Risk Scheme and the Language Centre at LSE have announced a unique new
programme for refugee and asylum-seeking scholars.

‘Reconnect with Research’ is an English language course with an academic
focus. The programme will equip academics with the language skills
appropriate for pursuing research work and furthering their academic
interests. It includes academic writing, analytical and discursive skills,
and explores current research to promote research-centred language learning.

The course is for UK-based refugee or asylum-seeking scholars with a
social science background who would benefit from enhanced English language
support and introduction to the UK higher education system. The programme,
which will take place from January to March 2012, is run by the Language
Centre and the Scholars at Risk Scheme from the Centre for the Study of
Human Rights at LSE, and is supported by the LSE Annual Fund.

On Tuesday 6 December, Professor Danny Quah (pictured) took part in the
Economic Research Council event 'Clash of the Titans: economics predictions
for 2012'.

At the event, which was chaired by former Chancellor of the Exchequer
Lord Lamont, Professor Quah went up against professors John Muellbauer
(University of Oxford) and M Hashem Pesaran (University of Cambridge) to
give his thoughts on past and present aspects of the UK and the global
economy, and make his predictions for what to expect in 2012.

Notices

Estates Division office move

This week, LSE's Estates Division
is moving to new offices on the fourth and fifth floors of Tower One. Due to
the size of the division, the move will be in two phases, resulting in some
disruption to phone and email communication on the following dates:

On Friday 9 December, Help Desk technicians will be on duty and services
should not be interrupted. However, it is possible that there maybe some
disruption to the phone line connections, which could extend to Monday 12
December.

Please note all phone numbers will remain the same. We apologise for any
inconvenience the move may cause.

Equality Act 2010 - information and training sessions for managers

All managers are invited to attend an information session on the Equality
Act 2010. The session will highlight your responsibilities as a manager to
fulfil specific equality duties, which include:

Setting equality objectives

Collation of information on protected groups

Publishing information in a format which is accessible to all

It will also give an introduction on how to carry out Equality
Analysis (which replaces Equality Impact Assessments).

The session will take place on Tuesday 13 December from 12.30-2pm
in room LRB301 and lunch will be provided. To book a place on this
information session, visit the
online training system.

Training sessions will also be taking place in January 2012. These
sessions will give you the opportunity to:

explore the importance of the Act

find out about the ‘due regard’ requirements you need to be aware of
contained in the Public Sector Equality Duty

and learn the specific equality duties which support these.

The course will highlight key trends and lessons from legal cases,
particularly those that have had a bearing on higher education institutions.

The information session, and the January training sessions, will be
jointly led by the School’s equality and diversity adviser, Carolyn
Solomon-Pryce, and Dr Ossie Stuart.

LSE Careers Christmas bake off

LSE staff are invited to come
and enjoy some holiday treats at the LSE Careers Christmas bake off.

LSE Careers will be testing their baking abilities
against other LSE departments. Three judges will taste all of the cakes and
then announce the winners. Categories will include appearance, best tasting
and originality.

The winners will not only receive significant recognition for their
baking abilities, they will also receive the coveted bake off desk trophy.

To enjoy some tasty home cooked treats, visit LSE Careers (sixth
floor of Tower Three) on Friday 9 December. Cakes will be
served at 11.15am. Entries will be sold for £1 per piece, and
proceeds will go to Diabetes UK.

Send an LSE e-card this Christmas

Why not save resources this
Christmas by sending e-cards? A specially designed electronic card, together
with the LSE logo and the words 'Season’s Greetings from LSE', is now
available for all staff to email out.

There is also room to add your own message below the e-card. Please
contact Liz Trumble at
designunit@lse.ac.uk for a copy to forward.

Discounted accommodation over Christmas
and New Year

LSE staff and students are entitled to a 10 per cent
discount on LSE's vacation accommodation.

Over the Christmas period, rooms at Carr-Saunders, Passfield and Rosebery
Halls will be available. These halls are ideally located in central London
and are a great option for your friends and family when they come to visit
over the festive season.

Rooms start from just £25.50 per night including breakfast. For more
information and to book online, visit
www.lsevacations.co.uk/LSE.

Call for contributors

Engenderings, the LSE
Gender Institute blog, is looking for staff and student contributors to
write posts about any aspect of gender in cultural, social and political
life. Launched in October, Engenderings receives more than 2,000
visits and 5,000 page views per week and the readership is growing every day.

Engenderings brings together academics, students and practitioners
from various institutions and departments in order to share ideas about
gender as it operates in local and global culture and society. At the core
of Engenderings is the idea that gender is everywhere, shaping not
only human bodies, sexualities and identities, but also the way we relate to
the world and to each other. The blog does not subscribe to any political
position; rather, it aims to provide a multidisciplinary space for thought,
comment or critique from a gender perspective.

Philosoverse is a student publication, supported by the LSE Department
of Philosophy, which blends the disciplines of poetry and philosophy.

The second edition will be published in March 2012 to coincide with the
LSE Literary Festival. The theme of this edition will be the relevance of
geographical perspectives on the history of ideas.

The editors are looking for submissions of four-line poems which explore
the origin of a philosophical idea from a certain geographical perspective.
Free form poetry is also being accepted. The deadline for submissions is
Saturday 7 January.

The LSE Perspectives December 2011 gallery is
now live. You can view this month's selection of photos
here.

The gallery features 12 striking images submitted by members of the LSE
community. Each image reflects a unique perspective on a particular scene.

LSE Perspectives is an online gallery featuring photographs taken by LSE
staff and students. If you have taken any artistic images on your travels,
from your home town or even just here in London why not submit them to LSE
Perspectives so that they can be shared with the LSE community.

This week’s offer is for Label MB
handbags, an online store selling premium leather handbags. The
autumn/winter 2011 range is small but precise, with classic designs and
colours that will take you from season to season.

LSE staff can get 15 per cent off non-sale items until midnight on
Sunday 18 December, perfect as a Christmas treat for you or someone
special. Staff are also welcome to let friends and family know about this
very special offer.

To use your discount, simply select your item from the
Label MB website and enter code 'LSESTAFF'
at checkout.

If you know of any deals that you think may be of interest to Staff
News readers, email Margaret Newson, purchasing manager, at
m.newson@lse.ac.uk.

LSE
in pictures

This week's picture features the London Eye on the South Bank, taken at
night. This is just one of the many stock images available in the LSE
Image Bank. The Photography Unit will be adding more images like this in
the New Year, so use the keyword ‘stock image’ to find them more
quickly.

Research

More than eight in 10 people think parents should send their children to the
nearest state school, reveals new findings from the first survey to gauge
Britons’ attitudes to school choice in detail.

The new data, released today from the British Social Attitudes Survey,
shows that 63 per cent take this view outright, and a further 22 per cent
say they would agree if the quality of different schools and their social
mix of pupils was more equal.

The survey asked around 2,000 members of the British public about a
parent’s ‘right to choose’ and found that attitudes were ambivalent.

While a large majority favoured children attending the local state
school, there was also broad support for the concept of choice, with 68 per
cent agreeing that parents should have a basic right to choose their child’s
school and 50 per cent agreeing that parents have a duty to choose ‘the best
possible’ school for their child, even if other schools in the local area
might suffer.

LSE’s Dr Sonia Exley, who led the Economic and Social Research
Council-funded study, said the apparent difference showed that parents do
not necessarily want to have to make choices over schools.
More

LSE and Guardian study finds
anger with police fuelled summer riots

A social research inquiry by
LSE and the Guardian found that widespread anger at people's
treatment at the hands of police was a significant factor behind the summer
riots in every major city where disorder took place.

The ‘Reading the Riots’ study, funded by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation
and the Open Society Foundations, is the only research into the riots
involving interviews with hundreds of people who participated in the
disorder.

In its first phase, the study used confidential interviews with a total
of 270 people who were directly involved in the riots in London, Birmingham,
Manchester, Salford, Liverpool and Nottingham. Of the people interviewed, 85
per cent said policing was an important or very important factor in why the
riots happened.

Professor Tim Newburn, head of LSE's Department of Social Policy, who
led the research team, said: 'This is a path-breaking study of the August
riots in England. It reveals the anger and frustration felt by those who
were involved in the disorder, in part a product of the unfair and
discourteous treatment they feel they suffer at the hands of the police, but
also reflecting the disillusionment many feel at the social and economic
changes which leave them increasingly disconnected from mainstream society.'
More

Rising debt means sinking power for the US, argues special report

American military power will decline from 2020 unless the US can solve its
mounting debt crisis, argues a new report.

The prediction, by Professor Iwan Morgan, is part of a multi-author study
produced by LSE Ideas which suggests that economic crisis is likely to
quickly erode America’s world dominance.

The special report, ‘The United States after Unipolarity’, says President
Obama’s attempts to define a new realistic foreign policy may be hampered by
domestic economic struggle.

Professor Morgan, from the University of London, writes that predictions
for the US to hit its highest ever debt level in 2023 mean that resources
will progressively be eaten up by social security and medical benefits,
leaving the nation increasingly unable to exert power with military or
economic levers.
More

Events

Lent term 2012 events announced

The full programme of LSE
public events from January to April next year is now online. Events include
lectures, debates, concerts, film screenings and exhibitions which are free
and open to all.

Speakers include:

Masaaki Shirakawa, governor of the Bank of Japan

Eric Ries, entrepreneur and author of The Lean Startup

Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria

Paul Mason, editor of BBC's Newsnight

Professor Christopher Pissarides, Norman Sosnow Chair in Economics
at LSE and recipient of the 2010 Nobel Prize for Economic Sciences

60
second interview

with..... Alan Langley

I work in Purchasing Services as
contracts manager. Although I have
been here for nearly three years as
a manager, I have not been able to
find the people who report to me
yet. I can honestly say it’s the
best job I have had in 41 years of
working. It’s diverse, interesting
and it gives me a chance to make a
difference.

I met up again with my (now) wife
after a 42 year gap. We were at
primary school together. I
discovered last year, at the age of
62, that I have a half-brother on my
mother’s side in Australia. He is so
pleased as, having been adopted and
having an adopted son, he has found
me as his only blood relative. He is
73. He plans to visit next June.

I went to one of the two greatest
universities in the country. This is
of course, as confirmed in
Blackadder, Hull University. I
got a BSc in economics and was
awarded the degree by the postman. I
am also a fellow of the Chartered
Institute of Purchasing and Supply.

I have a black belt in Shorinji
Kempo, awarded after seven years of
studying. I have also written a
musical that was showcased at the
Lowry Theatre, Salford in 1996. I am
still waiting for Sir Andrew Lloyd
Webber’s call. In July this year,
Supply Management voted my book,
The Buying Game, book of the
month. I think the editor had a
sense of humour as they do not have
a book of the month normally and
it’s not your standard business text
book.

When dealing with contracts,
what has been the most unusual
tender you have received either at
LSE or in a previous job?

The most unusual tender, due to
its complexity, was an outsourcing
project. We took a year to complete
the deal with Enron only to see the
parent company collapse and the
contract terminated six weeks after
it started.

From a product point of view, the
most unusual purchase order I have
raised is for Pringle the penguin,
hired for a photo shoot. Pringle
came from Chessington Zoo and
apparently didn’t like water. He had
to be thrown into the pool several
times a day by his keeper to keep
him in condition.

Where is your favourite place
on the LSE Campus?

I do like the road around the
Three Towers. It has an air of
tranquillity about it.

What has been the greatest
coincidence you have experienced so
far?

Two men were sitting in a bar in
Bombay, on holiday, watching English
football on the TV. They worked for
separate companies both with
dealings with Nigeria. I had worked
for both companies and knew both
men. On finding some common ground
regarding Nigeria, one asks the
other whether he knew me, which of
course he did.

What would be your perfect
breakfast, lunch and dinner?

My son, who is a reader in
pharmacy at Aston University, always
used to say that the breakfast beer
was the most important beer of the
day. I don’t necessarily subscribe
to this. I cannot literally stomach
anything for breakfast except when
on holiday when it’s bacon, eggs,
mushrooms, beans, sausage, black
pudding and fried bread and a roll
with low calorie spread.

For lunch, I do enjoy a cheese
sandwich, it’s got to be mature
cheddar, and rather like Dr Johnson,
hold the cucumber but unlike Dr
Johnson, add crisps.

For dinner it has to be chilli
con carne, normally a portion for
two, but I can leave it alone by
eating curry as a kind of 'cold
turkey' substitute, if you will
excuse the mixed up meal references.
I am also addicted to rice but not
the pudding variety.

Who would be your ideal
travelling companion on a long
journey?

Apart from my wife, who is proof
reading this, it would be nobody. I
once travelled to Italy with a
project manager. I said near to
flight time, 'Let’s go, let’s go'. But
he hung on and because of an accident on
the Milan motorway, we missed the
last flight to London. We got aboard
the last flight to Birmingham and
guess who had to drive to London in
a hire car.

Training
and jobs

Training for staff

Courses scheduled for next week include:

Managing your references using bibliographic tools

One-to-one IT training

Fire safety awareness

Evacuation chair volunteer training

For a full listing of what is available and further details, including
booking information, see
www.lse.ac.uk/training.

Jobs at LSE

Below are some of the vacancies currently being
advertised to internal candidates only, as well as those being advertised
externally.

Chair in contemporary Turkish studies, European Institute

HR Adviser: information and systems, HR Specialists

Head of academic services group, Library: information
services

Institute manager (maternity cover), European Institute

Lecturer in environment, Geography and Environment

Lecturer in political science, Government

Lecturer or senior lecturer in international relations,
International Relations

Lectureship in management, Management: MESG

MSc administrator, Government

Reader/senior lecturer in anthropology, Anthropology

Research economist, Spatial Economics Research Centre

Research Officer, Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion

For more information, visit
Jobs at LSE and login via the instructions under the 'Internal
vacancies' heading.

Nicole wants to hear from you!

Do you have some news, an achievement, or an aspect of LSE life that you would like to share? If so, then I would love to hear from you, contact me at n.gallivan@lse.ac.uk or on ext 7582.

The next edition of Staff News is on Thursday 15 December.
Articles for this should be emailed to me by Tuesday 13 December. Staff News is emailed every Thursday during term time and fortnightly during the holidays.